WOYWW 850

 OOOOH, WHAT A WHOPPER....

(The Marrow Song - The Wurzels)

Hello lovely Deskers, how lovely to have your company on another Wednesday - linking up over at Sarah's where crafters from all over the world show what they're up to!

I haven't spent a huge amount in the JanCave, but I did have some fabric vouchers from G on our anniversary last Thursday (43 years...good grief... the man deserves a medal!!)

Everything got chucked in:

There's stuff ready for a craft fair on the bed, some stuff ready to be sewn by the window and my new stash on the desk - oooh, there are some beauties there...

Seaweed, shells and a homage to Vincent's starry skies...

And some Asian/African inspired patterns too. I'm all right for fabric just for now, that should keep me busy over winter. The cross body bags are going like hot cakes down at the tearooms so that's what I'll be concentrating on initially.

I've done enough C knitting and when I saw the local maternity unit needed more little hats I though that's what I'd do next. And it uses up smaller amounts of yarn too, win win!

I grabbed a couple of free patterns from Marianna's online and am making two sizes. The variegated yarns were the first to be used but that bright orange is next to make pumpkin hats (the hospital's request, I'm not going mad!)

After a couple of weeks being tied to the house cos of the vertigo, I've actually managed to get out a couple of times, hooray! Still not up to a ten mile march but it's a start....

We went to Aberglasney gardens as we'd not been there for ages and yesterday was the nicest  weather wise amidst all the rain.

It's hard to credit this was a ruin in the 80s! The trust has worked so hard and there's a lot packed in. There were some awesome dahlias, penstemons and salvias in bronze, purples and deep reds - gorgeous.

And cyclamen in the woodland...

And hundreds of butterflies (or should that be pili pala as we're in Wales)

And indoor plants whose leaves grew in a star shape!

The reason for the lyric?

There were gourds hanging in the cherry tunnel! But it's hard to gauge the scale isn't it? So.....

Oooh, what a whopper! 

Hope you have a marvellous week and enjoy whatever it is you get up to xxxxx

WOYWW 849

 I SAW A MOUSE! WHERE?

THERE ON THE STAIR.

(Bet you're all singing that now, lol!!)

Happy Wednesday everyone - it's the time again for the sharing of our weekly makes over at Sarah's Craft Shed. There's always something wonderful and inspiring to check out,  I really enjoy seeing what everyone's working on!

There's been a little more sewing and knitting but mainly sorting out this week. I am feeling a bit better with the vertigo, thanks for all the commiserations last week, it's not dangerous or life threatening but my goodness, you feel really grim.

Anyhow, onwards and steadier!

Some new plastic wallet files kicked off a sorting out of my templates and patterns....

...but I did do a bit of cutting out and sewing. These cross body bags have been a hit down at the cafe where my fundraising sales take place (only £400 to get to £11K for the RNLI) Both the camo fabrics were £1.50 a metre in a sale so that's really great for maxing the profits.  And I'm channelling my inner Bet Lynch with the leopardskin, lol!

Most of the crafting has been knitting though:

FC now has eyes to guide Rudolph through the night skies!

The sparkly yarn that Wipso gave me was great for a hat and scarf for this Choc Orange snowman.

And the little mice got bows or pompoms, it just finished them off nicely!

I carried on sorting out, this time with my knitting patterns:

I've been putting them into spiral bound wallet files, so much easier. Toys, Christmas stuff, garments, blankets, hats - all now in their right places. But my favourite thing? That yellowed scrap of paper....

My dear mum's handwriting for the Feather and Fan knitting stitch *love*  More precious to me than any gold or antique. She taught me to knit when I was 6 and I hope that she'd be proud that I'm still making all these years later xx

Hope you have a marvellous week, whatever you get up to!

WHO'S ON MY SOFA?! WOYWW 848

 YOU GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS....

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good week! I have to apologise for lack of comments last week, I've had vertigo and it's affected me quite badly. I finally got to meet up with Wipso, having had to reschedule cos of feeling dizzy but we eventually made it!

Yay! We had a lovely couple of hours together and Annie had bought me some presents including this gorgeous sparkly Christmas yarn. It was lovely to see Doddy, Annie's husband and meet up with Peggy the little dog as well xxx

I lost no time in using the new yarn, knitting is all I've felt like doing:

Some more mice...

And a new pattern for a choc orange Father Christmas cover!

Now the question is should he have eyes (he doesn't on the pattern) and various friends have said yes and no! I'll embroider some on one and see how he looks though I think you'll agree that his handlebar moustache is rather fine, lol!

Hope you have a great week xxx

WOYWW 847

 IT AIN'T WHAT YOU DO, IT'S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT!

Hello lovely deskers, another week of meeting up for crafty snooping over at Sarah's - short and sweet today for me.

This is the fabric I kept from the recent donation and the best way to use it up is pick one lot out at random, see how much yardage there is and that defines what gets cut out. So this week, I've made:

This nautical fabric is so soft, it's gorgeous quality.

Animal print stuff always sells well!

And I used some funky red zips with this doggy fabric as it picked out the red coats:

A breed for all buyers!

The knitting continues - I've actually really enjoyed making these, they're so small you get a lot done!

Parts to make a little mouse in a dress choc orange cover!

And before you know it:

They've rather grown in numbers! Ah well, what doesn't sell this year can be put by for next *grin*

Wipso and hubby are dropping in tomorrow, rescheduled from Tuesday so there'll be pics to share next week. I'm really looking forward to seeing them both, plus Peggy the dog as well!

Have a great week everyone xx

WOYWW 846

 CH-CH-CHANGES

Hey there you lovely Deskers, hope you've had a good week! I'm definitely happier that the temps have dropped a bit, so much better for sleeping.

It's a short and sweet affair today - I've been busy but with outside tasks like painting the decking and gardening and those didn't merit any pics!

I have started cutting out some of the new fabrics:

And they're ironed ready for sewing but that's as far as I've got. They've been chucked on the JanCave bed together with the Chr..... fabric and the bucket of strips.

My crafting has mostly been knitting the little festive friends which I've really enjoyed - maybe it's because they're small projects that get finished quickly but they're whizzing off my needles...

More chocolate orange covers....

...and the David Bowie lyric refers to the fact that I'm altering all the patterns I've got (well, there's a change...NOT!)

I altered the snowman pattern then it morphed into being a bear...as you do...I made up a snout and bear ears and am very pleased with the outcome.

The penguin got changed too:

Not quite as menacing as the real Feathers McGraw (from Wallace and Gromit) but he made me laugh. Now to try a Gromit..... little things please little minds and all that lol!!

Have a fab week, I'm hoping to see Wipso and hubby next week, now that'll be good fun xx

WOYWW 845

 ALL THE GOOD THINGS....

Happy WOYWW Day to all you lovely Deskers, hope you've had a good week! It's been another few days of C madness and fabric overload....nah, what am I saying? There's never too much fabric, just not enough time lol!

My birthday present arrived, lots of spotty, a few pretty cottons and a few metres of fusible fleece - I was pretty low on just about everything so my vouchers came in very handy. I got 4m of the butterfly batik on the left and might make myself something.

Then I had just as much fun reordering the JanCave shelves - yes, I AM that sad *grin*

The top shelf display changes regularly as I like to put up things that friends have sent.

On the following day, more fabric arrived courtesy of a fellow market stallholder from Pembrey. It was 2 bin bags of unused premium furnishing fabric oddments from her neighbour whose wife had passed away.

These heaps were a metre high! I took out what I wanted, kept some aside for my SiL and the rest went to Wipso and Twiglet for their charity makes ( I did check with them first!!)

The gnomes are breeding:

Think they've been to the pub, done a bit too much quaffing and are now up for a fight....I daren't turn my back!

Yesterday, G and I decided to get out before the temps really ramped up so we took our breakfast down to the harbour and watched the very high tide come in (8.8m if you're interested!)

We had a stroll afterwards, it was a really nice thing to do for a change.

These little birds are Turnstones, normally to be found dibbling in the mud at the sea edge, they were taking shelter from the waves on the harbour wall. They really twittered and squabbled, like East Enders (or Pobol y Cwm as we're in Wales!)

It really was a lovely way to start the day!

Have a great week everyone and I hope the heat doesn't make you melt too much xx

WOYWW 844

 I'M A LUCKY GIRL, I FOUND MY FRIENDS

This Joni Mitchell lyric really hits the nail on the head! I'm so very grateful for the online group of crafting friends that have become part of my life xx  I had a lovely birthday last Friday and thank you to the gorgeous gals who sent me handmade cards:

From Lynne, Julia, Helen, Cindy, Jo and Annie plus Kim and Sue, two local mates. I love them all, so bright and cheerful. Plus Eva from Austria (a blog reader who's become a penpal) made me this:

Just beautiful and so clever. I really must get my free machine foot back out!

I had fabric vouchers from the boys which I've already spent! Plus Rhys got me this from his weekend away in Winchester:

A gorgeous little enamel and crystal brooch which has already taken pride of place on my purple denim jacket! I love the little cotton reel. My boys do give exceedingly good prezzies xx

The JanCave hasn't really seen that much action this week, I'm still cutting out bits and bobs:

And sorry, the C stuff is still out in force...

Pinning sets of three pieces that will become gnomes eventually!  G's sister sent me some fabric that she got from a charity shop:

All cotton, some still had the Doughty's paper labels on. These will come in handy, they're all of the same tone aren't they? I see a quilt coming on.

Most of my crafting time has been spent knitting:

...and sewing up! I've been distributing yarns, patterns and embellishments around various friends who are helping out lol! I tried a new pattern which takes a basic body and can turn into a snowman/gnome/Santa/ Reindeer. It's ever so easy, I've really enjoyed knitting some up.

Rudolph! Cute huh? I made up my own antlers, the pattern's were just too faffy and I think they look ok. I might morph this into a baby penguin as well, we'll see if it works out or not!

Hope you've had a good week, thanks for turning up and reading my nonsense again, I do really appreciate it xx

LLJ xxxxxxx